Sunflower coaster hand embroidery pattern

Advanced · 4 colors · 3 kinds of stitch

Sunflower coaster: preview of the stitched design

A round design for a coaster shows one sunflower seen face on: sixteen long pointed rays laid over sixteen longer ones, round a brown disc whose seeds are French knots, three rings of them about a single knot at the middle. There are no leaves: the flower sits inside a ring of sixteen French knots and an edge of sixteen scallops in stem stitch; the flower is worked in long and short stitch and French knots.

Size and details

Advanced. Uses long and short stitch over much of the design and dozens of French knots.

4 colors of floss and 3 kinds of stitch:

The stitched size, by hoop
Hoop	Inches	Centimeters
3 in (8 cm)	1.8 × 1.8 in	4.6 × 4.6 cm
4 in (10 cm)	2.7 × 2.7 in	6.9 × 6.9 cm
5 in (13 cm)	3.6 × 3.6 in	9.1 × 9.1 cm
6 in (15 cm)	4.5 × 4.5 in	11.4 × 11.4 cm
8 in (20 cm)	6.2 × 6.2 in	15.7 × 15.7 cm

In a 3 or 4 inch hoop the French knots are drawn smaller than about 2 mm (a little over 1/16 in). Use one strand of floss for them there, or choose a larger hoop.

The pattern is drawn inside a circle about half an inch (1.3 cm) smaller all around than the hoop.

What you need

DMC 922 Light CopperSunflower back rays and ring of knots
DMC 3852 Very Dark StrawSunflower front rays
DMC 3781 Dark Mocha BrownSunflower disc and scalloped edge
DMC 3828 Hazelnut BrownSunflower seeds

The floss is six-strand cotton; the stitch guide says how many strands to use. You also need a hoop, an embroidery needle (a size 7 to 9 suits two or three strands) and plain cotton or linen fabric. To frame the piece in its hoop, cut a square 3 inches (8 cm) wider than the hoop: a 9 inch (23 cm) square for a 6 inch hoop.

Stitch guide

Long and short stitch 1 or 2 strandsSunflower back rays, sunflower front rays, sunflower disc
French knot 2 strands, two wrapsSunflower seeds, ring of knots
Stem stitch 2 or 3 strandsScalloped edge

Getting it onto your fabric

The PDF holds the pattern twice at actual size: once as drawn, and once mirrored for an iron-on transfer pen. Print it at 100% with scaling off and check the one-inch square (25.4 mm) with a ruler before you trace. How to transfer a pattern explains tracing, carbon paper and the other ways. The files are under Downloads.